World's largest man-made excavation - a US copper mine closed because of landslide - YouTube World's largest man-made excavation - a US copper mine closed because of landslide Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 13, 2013 World's largest man-made excavation - a US copper mine closed because of landslide "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

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Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational Category The worlds deepest, biggest and deadliest open pit mines | LosApos Worldwide The worlds deepest, biggest and deadliest open pit mines In this article we will take you to some gigantic man-made holes: open pit mines. We’ll show you the biggest, deepest and deadliest mines in the world. Most of them are located in the United States and can be visited. You're guaranteed to see some spectacular views, and in the mines that are still active, you'll see rock explosions and mining equipment including some of the biggest dump trucks in the world with capacities exceeding 300 tons and vehicle weights over 1,000,000 pounds (600,000 kg).

Even if you have a large pick-up truck, it won't be bigger than a tire of these massive earth-movers. Some mines also have a visitor center or a museum on-site and a few offer tours to the public. Open pit Mine (Photo by wikipedia ) The biggest iron mine The worlds biggest open pit iron mine can be found near Hibbing, Minnesota. At its maximum, the area covered by the Hull Rust open pit mine is five miles (8km) long, 2 miles (3,2km) wide and 535 feet (180m) deep. It looks like a man-made Grand Canyon of over 2,000 acres (8,1km²). The first iron ore extractions were made here in 1895. Beginning as a small underground mine, the land eventually became one vast open pit as other mines began to develop and emerge. The center of the actual pit is located where the original town of Hibbing once stood. As the mine grew bigger, the town had to be moved. The move started in 1919 and took two years to complete. 185 houses and 20 businesses were moved a couple of miles to the south.

Some of the larger buildings even had to be cut in half before they could be moved. A few remnants of the original town are left near a lookout point at the edge of the mine. Hull Rust mine (Photo by joukork ) Since the Hull Rust mining operations started 1895, over 530 million tons of waste material and nearly 700 million tons of iron ore have been extracted from the pit. It has been calculated that all the material removed - approximately 1.2 billion gross tons - is equivalent to digging a tunnel through the core of the earth and out the other side. The mine is still operated today by the Hibbing Taconite Company, and taconite pellets are extracted at the rate of 8.2 million tons annually (not counting waste overburden). Mining excavator (Photo by not1word ) There is an observation building from where you can overlook the mining activities. A slide presentation explains the history of the mine and early miner's activities. A mine shovel bucket, a mining truck and a walking trail make the trip complete. The mine can be visited from mid-May through September. The biggest mining operation on Earth can be found in Germany.

At the Garzweiler strip mine they remove the top ground layer to extract lignite. The total mining surface is a staggering 18,5 ml² (48 km²) and several villages had to be moved for the mining operation. It is expected to extract 1,3 billion tons of lignite from the mine. After the mine’s depletion, it will be filled with water from nearby rivers, creating Germany’s second largest lake. Strip mining machines working at the Garzweiler mine For these amounts of earth moving, you also need some serious machinery. That’s why the Germans created Bagger 288. This 13,500 ton bucket-wheel excavator is the largest land vehicle in the world. Bagger can excavate 240,000 tons of coal or ground a day. The excavator is up to 220 m (721 ft) long and approximately 96 m (315 ft) high.

Bagger 288 (look at the 2 man at the base of the machine to get an impression of it's size) The deepest mine Bingham Canyon Mine, located near Salt Lake City, is the world's deepest man-made open pit excavation. The mine is 2.75 miles (4,5km) across and 0.75 mile (1,2km) deep. Since mining operations started in 1906, Bingham Canyon Mine has been the granddaddy of all copper mines. When you're talking about the actual size of the mine, Bingham Canyon is simply the largest copper mine in the USA. If the mine was a stadium, it could seat nine million people. Aerial view Bingham Canyon Mine(Photo by Ren Shore ) Bingham Canyon is primarily a copper mine, but it has also yielded a wide range of byproduct metals. These include 620 tons of gold, 5,000 tons of silver, 276 tons of molybdenum and large amounts of platinum and palladium. The Kennecott mining company extracts daily approximately 450,000 tons of rock out of the mine.

With these production statistics, it's no wonder that the Bingham Canyon Mine has been nicknamed "the Richest Hole on Earth." The value of metals produced yearly at Bingham Canyon is US$1.8 billion dollars. Bingham Canyon Mine (Photo by Timjarrett ) Kennecott has built a visitor’s center dedicated to educating the public about mining practices, sustainable development and the importance of mining in modern life. Visitors get breathtaking views and the opportunity to see giant electric shovels fill 320-ton capacity haul trucks that deliver ore to the in-pit crusher. A video, historic photographs and 3D models are also available inside the visitor's center. Dump truck getting loaded (Photo by Caterpillar ) The mine is operating 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. Visitors may come from April 1 through October 31, seven days a week. Entrance fees are $5 for passenger vehicles, $25 for mini tour buses and $50 for tour buses. All entrance fees are donated to charity. The deadliest mine Just outside Butte, Montana lies Berkeley Pit: a pit filled with greenish poison a mile and a half wide and over a third of a mile deep.

It was once a thriving copper mine where millions of tons of copper ore, silver, gold, and other metals were extracted from the soil. When underground mining became too costly in the 1950’s, Berkeley Pit became an open pit mine. As the mine grew bigger and deeper, groundwater began to seep into the pit, and pumps had to be installed to keep it from slowly flooding. Berkeley Pit (Photo by toddtrigsted ) Thirty years later, the mine was so exhausted that it was no longer profitable. The pit was abandoned and the water pumps were shut down. Without the pumps, rain and groundwater gradually began to rise in the pit, leaching out the metals and minerals in the surrounding rock. The water became as acidic as a lemon, creating a toxic mixture of heavy metal poisons such as arsenic, lead, and zinc. No fish live there, and no plants line the shores. There aren’t even any insects around, only some rare kinds of microorganisms survive in the toxic water. The Berkeley Pit had become one of the deadliest places on earth. The iron-rich water near the surface is reddish, yielding to a vibrant lime-green hue not far below the surface, where copper concentrations are higher.

If you were to drink large amounts of this water it would kill you by corroding your body from inside. Water in Berkeley Pit (Photo by kolopres ) In 1995, a flock of snow geese stopped for a rest at the pond, and 342 of them died there. Authorities use gunshots and loudspeakers to scare away migrating waterfowl, but there have been a few smaller die-offs nonetheless. Sometimes a sinister mist creeps out of the Pit and into the streets of Butte. Citizens are scared about this potentially poisonous fog. The water level is still rising, and if unchecked it will spill over into the area’s groundwater in twenty years. That danger made the area one of the EPA’s largest Superfund sites. Currently, the EPA’s plan is to focus on containment. Berkeley Pit fog (Photo by toddtrigsted ) The water in the pit is so saturated with metals that Montana Resources Inc. is able to extract copper directly from the water. 13 million gallons (68 million liters) per day, is pumped from the deeper, copper-rich part of the lake to nearby scrap iron holding ponds, causing the copper and iron to swap places.

The resulting copper sludge yields up to 180 tons of copper a month. The now iron-rich water is pumped back into the Berkeley Pit, creating the waterfall seen on the northeastern rim. In the meantime, the Pit has become a tourist attraction. There’s a small museum and gift shop located well above the water level. The Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand, open from March until November has an admission fee of $2. Related articles The Rio Tinto Kennecott Mine in Salt Lake City | Temple Square The Rio Tinto Kennecott Mine in Salt Lake City October 15, 2015 You might be surprised to learn that Utah’s local Rio Tinto Kennecott Mine is the largest man-made excavation in the world, and has produced more copper than any other mine. This is a mining operation that runs 24/7 and the way they work is quite impressive. Check out some fun stats on this prominent producer of precious metals. Source: For more information about exciting things you can only see and do in Utah, visit our post, Your Utah Bucket List . Big is beautiful: The world's richest mine projects - Mining Technology Jwaneng provides around 60-70% of owner Debswana's revenues.

Big is beautiful: The world's richest mine projects Size is important in the mining industry, where economies of scale can improve commercial viability. Mining Technology profiles some of the largest and richest mine projects in the world, from an Indonesian gold titan to the world's largest man-made excavation in Utah. A deep recession and volatile mineral prices have put pressure on mining companies to explore further and deeper than ever before in search of new revenue streams. But as well as investing in new projects, companies are also ploughing billions into operating and improving the infrastructure it takes to maximise huge, well-established deposits. Here we venture into a world of epic equipment and mind-boggling statistics to check out some of the highest-yield mining operations in the world. Grasberg gold and copper mine, Indonesia "Grasberg's milling and concentrating complex is one of the largest in the world, with four crushers and two giant grinding units." Located in remote highlands of the Sudirman Range in the province of Papua, Indonesia, is Grasberg , the world's largest gold mine and second largest copper mine.

Freeport began its operations in 1990 and has progressively extended exploitation to three mines: the Grasberg open pit mine, the deep ore zone (DOZ) underground block cave, and the Big Gossan open stoping mine, the latest addition at the end of 2010. Grasberg's open pit operations produced more than 67 million tons of ore in 2006, providing more than 75% of the mill feed. In 2011 however, Grasberg has been operating at minimum production since 12,000 of the 23,000 workers went on strike in September to demand higher pay. The stoppage has led Freeport to declare 'force majeure' on exports and Barclays Capital has forecast the global copper mine supply to fall 2% this year - the first production drop since 2002. It is also questionable if Freeport can meet its 2011 fourth-quarter output and sales targets. Production is nevertheless expected to continue through to mid-2016 and by then underground mining operations are scheduled to start at the Grasberg block cave mine, which is currently in development.

The mine's milling and concentrating complex is also one of the largest in the world, with four crushers and two giant semi-autogenously grinding units processing about 240,000mt of ore daily. Production at DOZ is expected to continue through to 2019 and Freeport plans also to ramp up production at the deep mill level zone (DMLZ) block cave mine in 2015. Bingham Canyon copper mine, US The Bingham Canyon Mine near Salt Lake City in Utah, owned by Rio Tinto and operated by its subsidiary Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, is not only one of the US' oldest working mines (marking its 100th year of operation in 2003), it is also one of the country's biggest copper producers. Its 300,000t of annual output supplies 18-25% of US copper requirements. The open-pit mine is also the largest man-made excavation anywhere in the world, according to Kennecott, measuring nearly three miles across and three quarters of a mile deep, with the company estimating that a further 800ft will be excavated by 2018.

Bingham Canyon also provides an interesting illustration of the impact that changing mineral prices can have on mining operations. The plant currently produces around 30 million pounds a year of molybdenum, an element that has become increasingly important for Kennecott due to rising demands. The company made $30 million from molybdenum sales in 2002, but income has shot up alongside skyrocketing prices, with more than $700m brought just three years later. This, combined with the discovery of a large molybdenum deposit (made possible by analysing 70s-era drill logs with modern data processing and visualisation technology), will likely see molybdenum form an ever greater part of Bingham Canyon's future production. Black Thunder coal mine, US One of the main competitors in the race for the worldwide biggest coal mines is Arch Coal's Black Thunder thermal coal mine , located in the Southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming, US, which contains one of the largest deposits of coal in the world.

"Opened in 1977, Black Thunder is still the largest single coal mining complex in the world and the first to ship a billion tons of coal." Opened in 1977, it is still the largest single coal mining complex in the world and the first one to ship one billion tons of coal, providing around 10% of the US coal supply today. The mine produces low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal, suitable to fuel power stations without any preparation other than crushing. In 2007, the mine produced around 86.2 million tons of coal, which is nearly 20% of Wyoming's total coal production and higher than in 23 other individual coal producing states. In 2010, this number rose to 116.2 million tons of coal, with the company claiming to produce "the energy equivalent of one million barrels of crude oil every day." Black Thunder coal mine operates several individual open pits, using six large draglines for overburden handling.

Two of the draglines are among the largest in the world, weighing 14.7 million lbs at a height of 238ft, and are able to carry up to 164yd³ of material at once. The mine also operates 22 massive shovels that are able to dig up 120t in a single bucket, as well as 150 haul trucks that operate continuously at the mine. Goro Nickel project, New Caledonia The tiny archipelago of French dependent territory that is New Caledonia might be home to only one major city and a population of little more than 250,000, but it also hosts one of the world's largest mining projects under construction. The Goro Nickel project , the main shareholder of which is Vale subsidiary Vale Inco, has been producing nickel and cobalt from the Goro plateau since 2010, gradually ramping up until full-capacity production is expected to begin in 2013.

Once in full swing, the Goro Nickel project is expected to produce 60,000t of nickel and up to 5,000t of cobalt from proven and likely reserves of 120 million tons, representing a massive 20% share of global supply. Despite the huge reserves waiting to be tapped, the project has been inundated with delays and budget increases. Vale Inco and its partners are now two years behind the original schedule and nearly $2bn over the initial budget (total cost estimates were recently revised from $3.2bn to $4.3bn). Many of the project's problems have been a result of deteriorating relations with local groups over the environment and sustainability issues. The start of production at the project was delayed from late 2008 to 2010 after the construction of an offshore tailings pipe was delayed by complaints from local community groups. Most notable of these is Rhéébù Nùù, an organisation of indigenous Kanak people established to monitor the Goro project, which released a damning statement saying: "The Goro Nickel project does not fulfil the conditions of respecting the environment and even less the conditions for sustainable development".

With the project rapidly losing friends in New Caledonia, further delays could put Vale Inco's proposed 2013 full-production date in danger. Chuquicamata copper mine, Chile "Despite the huge reserves waiting to be tapped, Goro Nickel mine has been inundated with delays and budget increases." To date the biggest open bit copper mine by digged volume is Chuquicamata . Located 1,240km north of the Chilean capital Santiago, the open pit mine is owned and operated by Chilean state company Codelco and includes Radomiro Tomic. Despite its 90 years of extensive exploitation (operational since 1910,) 'Chuqui' as it is commonly known, produced about 29 million tons of copper by the end of 2007, remaining one of the world's largest copper resources. The mine's open pit is the world's largest at 4.3km long, 3km wide and more than 900m deep. Chuqui's smelter and electrolytic refinery is, with 855,000t a year, among the world's largest.

Apart from copper, the mine is also a significant producer of molzbdenum, a silvery metal often used in high-strength steel alloys. The Chuquicamata open pit mine is expected to close by 2013. A new underground mine will be developed to 2018 at an estimated cost of $2bn with an expected daily production output of 120,000t copper a day. Sinclair Knight Merz undertook the conceptual engineering of the new underground mine in 2007-2009 and envisages four subterranean tunnels that extend 1,500km under the surface of the current mine. The tunnels will deepen by nearly 787m by the end of production in 2060. Jwaneng mine, Botswana Jwaneng is the world's richest and largest diamond mine by output, and it's only going to get bigger. The mine provides around 60-70% of owner Debswana's revenues, with production in the range of 12.5 million to 15 million carats a year.

In December 2010, Debswana (a joint venture between De Beers and the Government of Botswana) embarked on the largest single investment in Botswana's mining history to extend Jwaneng even further. The $3bn expansion project, called Cut 8, is expected to allow the diamond mine to continue its current production levels until at least 2024 with the extraction of an additional 102 million carats. Around 1,400 of Jwaneng's 2,500 employees are directly involved with the project, which is in the process of removing 658 million tons of waste material to open up the new deposit. On top of Cut 8, Debswana is also developing its ongoing Jwaneng Resource Extension Project (JREP) to allow the exploitation of resources at the mine to go deeper as well as wider. JREP's scope involves getting access to indicated resource estimates down to around 850 metres below the surface, maximising the mining output of all Jwaneng operations, including Cut 8. By Elisabeth Fischer and Chris Lo Share World's largest man made hole in the ground!

- Review of Bingham Canyon Mine, Bingham Canyon, UT - TripAdvisor “World's largest man made hole in the ground!” Reviewed February 10, 2013 Where else in the world can you go to see a hole in the ground large enough to be visible from outer-space? Well I am here to tell you, nowhere! Kennecott Utah Copper's Bingham Canyon Mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in a open-pit mine that is over 0.75 miles deep and 2.5 miles wide! The mine itself covers an area of more then 1900 acres and according to Kennecott, it is the world's largest man-made excavation! Those are some pretty impressive figures for a big hole in the ground. Visiting Bingham Canyon Mine is very interesting and well worth your time. The on-site visitor center provides a great history of mining in the area, discusses the relevance and value of mining in our everyday lives, and has lots of interesting historical photos and artifacts to check out. Everyday we use products that are the products of mines around the world--the computers we use, our phones, our soaps, toothpastes and shampoos.

In fact, chances are good that the majority of the products in your home or office were once dug out of a mine. If you haven't seen the world's largest man made hole in the ground, you need to go! Visited April 2012 Largest Man-Made Excavation on Earth - Bingham Canyon Excavation By Tim Heffernan Dec 6, 2013 The Bingham Canyon open-pit copper mine is the largest man-made excavation on earth, a hole nearly three miles wide and nearly four thousand feet deep. (For that matter, it's larger than most natural excavations—much bigger than the hole left when Mount St. Helens erupted, for example.) On a typical day, half a million tons of rock are dynamited, dug up, trucked out, crushed, concentrated, smelted, and finally refined into roughly eight hundred tons of pure copper. That meets about 1 percent of global demand. Put another way, there are the equivalent of one hundred Bingham Canyons operating around the planet. Dozens more mines are in development.

(You'll be hearing about one, the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska, over the coming year.) And there are plans to extend the life of Bingham Canyon for decades by pushing its operations underground. Instead of making the pit wider and deeper, operators will be tunneling beneath the ore and pulling it out from below—in blocks half a mile long on a side. The reason for all this effort? Copper carries electricity, which means it carries developing economies into modernity. Like ours a hundred years ago, when Bingham opened; like China's today. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Bingham Canyon Mine, Salt Lake City, Utah | Aerial view of t… | Flickr Bingham Canyon Mine, Salt Lake City, Utah Aerial view of the Bingham Canyon Mine, the largest man-made excavation on earth. The Kennecott Copper Mine is an open-pit mine located in Salt Lake County, Utah, just southwest of West Jordan, at (40°31′N 112°09′W). It is located 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

It is easily visible as a large layered multi-color, barren protrusion on the side of the Oquirrh Mountains, which lie on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. It is currently the largest open-pit mine in the world, and the world's largest man-made excavation. The mine is 2½ miles across, and ¾ mile deep. Kennecott is the second largest copper producer in the United States - providing approximately 15% of the country's copper needs. Minerals were first discovered in Bingham Canyon in 1850, but exploitation did not begin until 1863. At first, mining was difficult, but a railroad reached the canyon in 1873, prompting massive settlement and extraction of the minerals. By the 1920s, 15,000 people of widely-varying ethnicity had settled in the canyon. Large residential communities were constructed on the steep canyon walls. Natural disasters were a common occurrence in the heavily-settled canyon. The population declined rapidly as mining techniques improved, and several of the mining camps began to be swallowed up by the mine.

By 1980, when Lark was dismantled, only Copperton, at the mouth of Bingham Canyon and with a population of 800, remained. Today, mining operations continue at full-swing in the mine, and it is now the largest open-pit mine in the world. Work to expand the mine 600 feet east began in 2005, continuing to increase its size, growth, and capabilities. (Wikipedia) Done 25 Most Massive Man-made and Natural Holes - WebEcoist 25 Most Massive Man-made and Natural Holes by Angie Humongous holes can be found scattered across the globe. Some are made by nature like craters or collapsed cave systems, while others are brought about by mankind. Massive man-made holes scar the Earth with greedy pockmarks indicating natural resources being stripped from the land. A few of these holes are so huge that they can be seen by astronauts with the unaided eye. Still others signal a subterranean fire, open pit diamond mines, and sinkholes. Other holes are a geological phenomena. Here are some of the most massive man-made and natural holes to be found on our planet.

Cenote (image credits: wikipedia , wikipedia ) A cenote is a sinkhole filled with groundwater. They form when water that was previously supporting the rock ceiling drops and the ground collapses. Sometimes an active cave system is below the rocks like at Dos Ojos (top) in Mexico, the now flooded and deepest known cave passage. There are a minimum of 25 sinkhole entrances in which people from all over come to swim and play. Craters (image credits: Mars Anomaly Research , Mars Anomaly Research , NASA ) There are humongous holes all around us, some puncturing the Earth while other space rocks impact other planets. Mars also has many dark holes like MRO at the top. At last count, our planet had more than 170 discovered impact craters. In Arizona and pictured along the bottom, the Barringer Meteorite Crater, also called “Meteor Crater” is almost mile wide and 570 feet deep. Holy Holes (image credits: crooked brains , wikipedia , Mosaic Projects , wikipedia ) How would you like to take a vacation to Zacation? Cenote Zacaton (upper left) can be found near the northeastern coast of Mexico.

It is the deepest known water-filled sinkhole in the world with a depth of 1043.31 feet. Crveno Jezero (Red Lake) in Imotski, Croatia, (upper right) is known for its 790 feet high cliffs as well as the many caves in the area. From the bottom of Red Lake to the top of the cliff is distance of 1,909 feet. Some massive holes are created by mankind like Island Copper Mine (lower left) on Vancouver Island. At the time that it was closed down, the mine was the lowest man-made spot on Earth and reached a depth of 1,320 feet below sea level. The Udachnaya pipe (lower right) is a open-pit diamond mine in Russia. This mine is over 1,968 feet deep. Chand Baori Well (image credits: oddity central ) Built in an arid climate back in the 9th century, the incredible well of Chand Baori, India, was the dependable water solution that would last throughout the year. This famous stepwell is more than 98 feet deep, has 13 floors and 3,500 steps.

It is a great example of the architectural excellence from centuries past. With no handrails and a 100 feet plunge to the water, this might also be a great place to dive in? Bingham Canyon Mine (image credits: Utah , lumq , lumq , lumq ) Bingham Canyon Mine is the world’s largest man-made excavation. It is located 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. When the digging was started over a hundred years ago, it was a landmark development in open-pit mining operations. Stretching 2.5 miles across and 3/4 of a mile deep, even the astronauts could see this copper mine from outer space with the naked eye. For an even better idea of how humongous this man-made excavation is, if the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine were a stadium, it could seat nine million people. Diavik Diamond Mine (image credits: lumq ) This diamond mine is located northeast of Yellowknife Canada and produces more than 8 million carats each year. An ice road freezes over in cold weather but it once was the only connection to the huge hole. When supplies could not be trucked in due to icy road hazards, another option was conceived.

Due to the remoteness of this mine, an airport was constructed with a 5,235-foot gravel runway that is large enough to land a Boeing 737. This massive hole is extensive, but the life expectancy to continue to rape the land is expected to be 16 to 22 years. Monticello (image credits: lumq ) Monticello Dam is located in Napa County, California. When the reservoir is at full capacity and water needs to be drained, this glory hole is used. The glory hole at Monticello Dam is the largest in the world, measuring in with a 87 feet diameter. As the huge hole opens up on the surface of the water, 14,400 cubic feet of water is drained every second. If you shot for adventure here, and jumped in, you would end up shooting out in a jet stream at the bottom of the dam. Guatemala City (image credits: lumq ) In northeast Guatemala in 2007, the ground collapsed and created a humongous sinkhole. It swallowed dozens of homes. Three people were killed and 1,000 people evacuated from the area.

This sinkhole was 330 feet deep, a result of fluids from a sewer dissolving the rock underneath. To better mentally calculate the size of the massive hole, the Statue of Liberty would completely fit with 22 feet to spare from the bottom to the top of the sinkhole. Kimberly (image credits: lumq , lumq , Virtual Globetrotting , lumq ) Kimberley Mine, an open-pit mine in South Africa is one of the world’s deepest man-man holes. This Big Hole is 705 feet deep and nearly circular. Mined from 1871 to 1914, up to 50,000 miners dug this hole with shovels and picks, yielding 6,000 pounds of diamonds. It was mined to a depth of almost 3,600 feet. Today the pit is only 705 feet deep, located in the center of town, and filled partway with groundwater. Mirny (image credits: SReedHara ) We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle where aircraft seem to vanish, but in Russia this sink hole is so large that the airspace above it is off-limits to pilots.

A few helicopters were sucked by downdrafts into this massive mine. This abandoned diamond mine is the largest man-made hole in the world and is located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia. The mine is 1,722 feet deep and has a diameter of 3,937 feet. 20-foot tall rock-hauling trucks service Mirny Mine along steep roads that snake back and forth. Belize Blue Hole (image credits: Andrew Hounslea , lumq , Adam Hingoro , lumq ) The Blue Hole located 60 miles off of Belize is an almost magical place for divers. The huge blue circle, a blue hole, is an awe-inspiring geological phenomenon. Although there are many blue holes located across the globe, the one in Belize is the finest in the world. Looking down at the circle from above, the dark blue water has a diameter that stretches for 1/4 mile. The depth in the middle of the blue hole is 475 feet deep. Gates of Hell (image credits: John Bradley ) In yet another epic human error against the Earth, there is a massive hole burning with an unholy fervor.

Located deep within the Karakum desert of Turkmenistan, the Darvaza Gas Crater, or The Burning Gates give off a fiery glow for miles during the dark hours of night. This huge crater was formed by a catastrophic accident when a Soviet drilling rig fell into an underground cavern. The Soviets could smell noxious gas leaking from the hole and set it ablaze. It has been burning ever since 1971 and the scent of burning sulfur is very strong near the edge of the hole. The Burning Gates measures 196 wide and 65 feet deep. 8 Photos That Prove Earth Is An Anomaly 8 Photos That Prove Earth Is An Anomaly {{article.article.images.featured.caption}} Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Full Bio The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Loading ... There are many strange and mysterious things about our Earth that just don't make sense if you ever compare it to other planets. Here are just a few of the weird and mysterious features found throughout the world . 1. Chocolate Hills, Philippines The Chocolate Hills in the Bohol province of the Philippines are over 1,200 hills spread over 20 square miles.

These beautiful and mysterious features are thought to have formed through weathered karst features, where limestone is weathered enough to collapse, causing the nearby earth to form a hill. The Chocolate Hills (Credit: Getty Images) 2. The Rainbow Mountains The Rainbow Mountains found in Zhangye Danxia , China exhibit a strange pattern of weathering and erosion, mixed with unique mineralogy. This forms patterns of various colors, stripping hills depending on the trace minerals within each layer of sediment. The Rainbow Mountains of Zhangye Danxia, China (Credit: Getty Images) 3. Liquid Water Earth is the only planet known to sustain liquid water, which covers 71% of the world’s surface. Liquid water is essential to life as we know it and is believed to be the key prerequisite to finding life on other planets. Ocean waves crash over a seawall and into houses along the coast in Scituate, Mass., Thursday, March 7, 2013. (Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne) 4. Antarctica Antarctica is home to the largest accumulation of ice on the planet, something uniquely different about the Earth for several reasons.

One is that water exists on the planet in the first place, in addition to the great abundance of water found on Earth. It's extremely rare to have the amount of water found on Earth. View of Yankee Harbour in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. (Credit: EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images) 5. Bingham Canyon Mine The Bingham Canyon mine is an open pit mine for extracting copper and is the largest man-made excavation in the world. The mine is 2.5 miles wide and over half a mile deep. Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah (Credit: Wikipedia/Spmusick) 6. Puente Hills Landfill Puente Hills Landfill, located in southeastern LA, is the largest landfill in the United States. The landfill at one time accepted millions of tons of waste per year. Landfills across the world provide a strange and unique concoction of elements and materials that would otherwise never be found together in nature . Puente Hills Landfill near LA, California. (Credit: Wikipedia/Britta Gustafson) 7. Satellites Orbiting Earth There are approximately 1,100 active satellites that orbit the Earth.

In addition, there are 2,600 non-active satellites that orbit the Earth. The numerous objects humans have orbiting Earth, with the ability to receive and transmit data back and forth from Earth is incredible. Satellite orbiting Earth (Credit: Wikipedia/Thegreenj) 8. Cities Cities are an incredible demonstration of man's ability to extract natural resources found around the world and concentrate them cities. Consider the natural origin of all the materials found in New York City. It is a dizzying glimpse at how humans are able and willing to transport and concentrate materials around the world to serve their needs. The real life version of playing Minecraft . The lower Manhattan skyline is seen from Brooklyn September 11, 2014 in New York City. (Credit: Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

Question: The largest man-made excavation in the world is a mine for which element?
Answer: COPPER